A SPORTS agent linked to England footballer Ashley Cole helped organise a revenge attack that led to the murder of an innocent man, a court heard yesterday.

Chris Nathaniel is said to have urged a mob to take revenge for an attack on his friend Paul Boadi

Chris Nathaniel, 35, took the law into his own hands after friend Paul Boadi, 35, was robbed of his BlackBerry mobile, it is alleged. The pair urged Kevin Richards to recruit a band of vigilantes to track down the muggers and teach them a lesson, the Old Bailey was told.

A seven-strong mob, armed with baseball bats and a knife, drove in a minibus to Custom House, east London, the jury heard. Nathaniel and Boadi allegedly arrived in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes and after scouring the streets for over two hours they spotted Danny O’Shea.

The 18-year-old had no connection with the attack on Boadi but the vigilantes chased him and stabbed him in the neck.

Mr O’Shea staggered towards home but only made it to a neighbour’s house where he knocked on the door before collapsing.

Nathaniel, who founded the NVA Entertainment group, brokered a deal last year for Chelsea star Cole to open a branch of US rapper Jay-Z’s 40/40 restaurant and bar chain. He was also a director of Manchester United player Rio Ferdinand’s Live The Dream foundation.

Mark Heywood, QC, prosecuting said the wound to Mr O’Shea’s throat was devastating. “It cut through the jugular and through the voice box. The blow was not survivable with no help at hand. His attackers ran off and left him. They did not pause to help, to inquire or to call for assistance,” he said. One of the group later allegedly boasted about the attack on Twitter saying: “The element of surprise is such a useful thing.”

Money was withdrawn to pay off the men, it was claimed. A week earlier, Boadi had been attacked by seven muggers in the same street where Mr O’Shea was killed.

Mr Heywood said: “He was no doubt very angry and upset. What happened to him was a crime and it should have been reported and the perpetrators punished.”

But Boadi instead turned to flatmate and business partner Nathaniel.

Mr Heywood said: “Their solution, involving people, vehicles, time and money, was to take the matter into their own hands. The plan was to exact revenge. None of them knew the young man who died.”

18-year-old Danny O'Shea was innocently killed in revenge attack

The wound to Mr O’Shea’s throat was devastating

Mark Heywood, QC

Boadi could rest easy that the mugging had been properly avenged, Mr Heywood told the jury.

Nathaniel and Boadi, both of Poplar, east London, and Richards, 33, of Willesden, north London, deny murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.